Bright Red
by Cadet Grey
Summary: My English may be a little broken. This story is about Medid and Femke who have been best friends for a very long time. For a mysterious reason Femke seems to be in possession of a time travelling potion - but is it really reality? In a nutshell is Medid destined to become an Assassin, while Femke is destined to become a Templar. This causes a lot of trouble...
1. Chapter One: The Bird

Life in Ephrany was easy. It was a small, quiet town, and the citizens were kind and the neighbourhood was a safe place to raise children. Sure, there weren't a lot universities or large malls, but the town had a lot of good sides as well. For example, it was a really pretty environment when the autumn leaves were falling down. However, autumn was months ago! It was early spring by now, and all the students were impatient and exited for the holidays.  
One of the exited students was Medid, a girl around the age of 17, who was heading to Ephrany's most famous High School on a chilly Thursday morning.

"Medid…" a soft whisper came from a bush across the road as the referred girl walked by. She immediately stopped and smirked, recognizing the familiar shrill voice.  
"Medid…" it said again.  
"Femke, if you'll jump out of nowhere and startle me, I'll push your head into that trashcan over there!" Medid said looking around wildly. When the gaze of her dark brown eyes with an almost crimson red shine in them passed the bush, she spotted two big, cold grey eyes peeking at her. "Found you!" she cried out, as she tried to grab the grey-eyed person. "Eep! No!"  
Before Medid laid a finger on Femke, she rushed out of the bush, towards the school.  
"Oh, no, you don't!" Medid said laughingly, while running after her.

When she reached their classroom, she eagerly looked around to see if she could find the grey eyed monster. That wasn't too much of a difficult job, since she almost got hit by an apple which was obviously aimed at her. Medid quickly looked in the direction the apple came from, to see a blonde haired girl with puffy cheeks and a cheeky expression sitting at a desk in front of the classroom.  
"Femke! Why did you even try to hide from me, you twit? You suck at hiding," Medid snickered as she walked towards Femke.  
"Well, excuse me for not having the skills of a crook like you," Femke said, sticking her tongue out at Medid. "At least I'm much stronger!"  
Medid was about to answer, but at that point a long, black haired women walked in which caused the entire class to sit down in silence. It was obviously the teacher who'd replace Mrs. Chandler for her maternity leave.

"Sit down," she said with a sharp, loud 's' which for some reason gave an uncomfortable atmosphere.  
Medid stepped to the back of the classroom. She usually would want to sit next to Femke, who had been her friend for years, but she didn't want to sit so near to the new teacher.

"Listen carefully," the woman said, "My name is Mrs. Fowler. I will be teaching you history from now on."  
She sniffed, and then continued; "I want discipline, and order in my classroom. I will be giving you knowledge; therefore you must give me all of your attention and obey my rules. The school bell does not decide when this class is over; I do. So you may fool around as much as you like, but I will make you stay twice as long when you do. Am I clear?"  
She didn't even wait for an answer, and immediately started writing a date on the white board.  
"Does any of you know what date that is?"  
"1095, it says it right there. Can't you read?" a boy in the back of the class asked.  
Mrs. Fowler didn't seem to appreciate the comment, since she send him to the principal right away. That boy wasn't the only one, though, because shortly after he got send away, 4 other student followed in less than 15 minutes. The entire class was silent now, as Mrs. Fowler was telling about the First Crusade, the Templar Knights and Constantinople.  
Femke was interested in the Middle Ages, so listened carefully, while Medid tried not to snicker because of the references in Assassin's Creed; one of her favourite games. It was giving her quite a hard time, so she started staring out of the window.

As she stared out of the window, a small bird settled down on the windowsill, on the other side of the glass. Medid was about to smile at it, but then noticed it was looking at her. Not just as a curious little bird, no – it was gazing into her eyes. She shivered. The bird's eyes spoke so many words, it was scary. It was almost like it wanted to tell her something. Medid decided to look away, but their eye contact was practically locked. The bird chirped then once, and flew away. It felt like snapping out of a trance.

When Medid sighed happily, being glad the bird had gone, she looked back at the class and almost gave a small shriek. She widened her eyes and looked at Femke, who has a bright red glow around her. No one else seem to notice it, though. She quickly rubbed in her eyes and looked again. No, it wasn't her imagination. Femke was glowing red. Quickly, she crumbled a piece of paper and threw it against Femke's head.  
Femke looked up at Medid, and gave her a questioning, slightly annoyed glare. Medid quickly pointed at her body. Femke looked at herself, but then looked back at Medid and shrugged. According to the confused but natural expression, it was clear she didn't see the red glow.

And neither did anyone else.


	2. Chapter Two: Secrets and Lies

Quickly Medid tore a piece of paper out of her notebook and scribbled something on it, she was about to throw it to Femke, who was aware of that – but unfortunately Mrs. Fowler saw it as well.  
"Mrs. Tycillian!" she immediately called out. "What do you think you're doing? What can be so important it can't wait-!"  
Suddenly, her yelling stopped by Femke who couldn't help but giggle. She always did that when people got angry – she couldn't help it, but right now it was a pretty stupid move.  
"Oh, so now the ladies are cooperating in disturbing class?"  
Medid was about to apologize, but apparently Femke thought it was funny what Mrs. Fowler just said, because her giggling switched to loud laughter.  
"Now, that really does it! Out! Both of you!" Mrs. Fowler sneered right back at her, so after 2 minutes Femke and Medid were walking through the hallways together.  
The red glow around Femke had disappeared, but Medid wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Femke about it. Of course, Femke was her very best friend, but how big was the chance she'd believe her? No way. If Femke would've told her such a thing, she'd laugh at it herself.

All of sudden, Medid snapped out of her thoughts by Femke's rather loud voice.

"So, are you going to see the principal? I _really_ don't feel like seeing him now, he'll scold me, and then he'll nag about the 'lack of respect', and then he'll call home, and then my mother will be nagging as well, and then when I enter history class next week that woman will nag at me – too much nagging! I can't stand it!" she complained. Medid hummed as a sign she was listening. "But seriously, you were looking at me as if I was on fire! What's the matter?"

_Fire. Red glow. How funny._

"Well…" Medid started insecure. "I know this might sound crazy, but there was this bird, and it looked to me, and then I looked back into the classroom, and you kind of, well… You were glowing. Red."  
"Was I blushing? Well, my cheeks look red often."  
"No! You were entirely red!" Medid tried. "As in – everything!"  
Femke looked at Medid with a dead serious expression. That didn't last long, because after a second or three, Femke's loud laugh was echoing through the empty hallways.  
"Are you telling me I was on fire? 'Kay, I know I can seem a bit slow sometimes, but if I'd be on fire, I'd notice it! Believe me!"  
Once more Medid tried to explain, but Femke laughed it off again, which caused her to let go of it for now.  
When they reached the main hall, they looked at the large board.  
"Aww yeah! No chemistry!" Femke cheered. "Pfff, I'm so NOT going to the principal. That means we can go home now! Awe-some!"  
"Epic!" Medid chirped. "Hm… This day may be a bit too short for my parents to believe we had no issues, though," Medid added slowly. "Can I come over to your place?"  
Femke shrugged. "If you feel like it! Mum's not home anyway."  
Medid high-fived Femke, as they quickly ran out of the school before the cleaner noticed them, since was as always hunting students who were late and such.

At Femke's place, Medid looked around. It was a nice place. Maybe a little dark, though. She was used to coming there, and was so at home that if she was thirsty or hungry, she just walked right to the refrigerator to get herself something, instead of asking for it. She also slept at Femke's place a lot, but tried to avoid sleeping there too much, since Femke never let someone sleep on the floor or on the couch and thus let them sleep next to her, which caused Femke to squish them as soon as they lied down (she kept calling it 'hugging').  
With a small chuckle, Medid lied down on Femke's bed, as Femke herself was getting them some biscuits and tea. Medid wasn't that much of a tea person, but Femke certainly was.

"Here you go!" Femke chirped as soon as she got back, with a large smile.  
"Ah, thank you," Medid replied.  
"It's no problem," the blonde haired girl replied, with the same large smile still on her face.  
Medid chuckled at Femke's face and took a small sip of the tea. It gave her a warm, flowing feeling in her belly, but after a few seconds, it frankly enough warmed up her entire body.  
"So," Femke started. "Red glowing, wasn't it? Where – oh where – have I heard of that before?"  
Medid looked up in surprise. Why would she start talking about it?  
"I have no idea, Fem," she said slowly.

A bird. A red glow. It just didn't make any sense, and she hadn't heard of it either way.  
Or maybe she did. Assassin's Creed, of course. But that'd be ridiculous!

"But… That's fiction, Femke. It can't - "  
Before she could continue, her sentence was cut off by Femke's finger placed on her lips.  
With a small chuckle, Femke slowly took her hand back. "Secrets and lies," she whispered.

"Wh-what?"

"Conspiracies," Femke added with a smile - again. "Lies, secrets, nonsense made up by the secret government to keep us quiet! To not disturb our poor little minds!"  
"Femke, I think you're overreacting," Medid said with a weak smile, although she couldn't help but having a feeling that somewhere she might be right.  
"All it not what it seems, Medid," Femke said while her smile grew. "They'll murder you as soon as you know too much. Unless…" Femke stopped, snickered and then whispered. "Unless you join them."

A loud chirp could be heard, and before Medid could comment on Femke's words, a small bird flied inside Femke's room. It chirped loudly, as if it was panicked or angry, and looked at Medid.  
Femke didn't say a word and grabbed the little bird. She walked up and set it on her windowsill.  
The bird tried to fly inside – to Medid – but Femke closed the window and the curtains. However, the chirping could still be heard, as well as the bouncing against the window.

"Ignore him," Femke said with a deep tune in her voice. "He'll stop. If he'll keep doing that, he'll break his neck or wings. Otherwise I'll let my cats at him."

Medid looked shocked at Femke.  
"F-Fem! That was the same bird!"

"Of course it was!" Femke called out. "It's Lorenzo's bird, for Heaven's sake!"


	3. Chapter Three: Giving It a Shot

"Lorenzo…?" Medid slowly asked. "Who's that?"  
Femke growled. She was obviously annoyed. "Lorenzo's an enemy, to keep things short."  
"Enemy? But, Femke, I don't get it. Aren't you overreacting?"  
Femke lost the smile. "Look, Medid," Femke started, now with a serious expression. "As much as I'd wish to explain things to you, as much as I'd love to tell you everything – I cannot. You'll know too much. You know, for an _outsider_."  
Medid looked at Femke with a hurt expression. She and Femke were always a team; in everything.  
"I don't mean it like that," Femke quickly added, noticing the fact she hurt her best friend a little.  
"It's just… I want you to know, and at the same time I don't. It's for the sake of our friendship."  
A little offended expression was to be found on Medid's face now. "Listen, we've gone through our ups and downs. What could be so horrible, it'll ruin our friendship?"  
Femke looked at Medid now with a smile again, but her eyes didn't fit it.  
Quickly Medid stood up. "Come on, you can tell me! I mean, I'll show you our friendship will get through this."  
"No, it won't," Femke muttered. She then looked slowly up at Medid.  
Silence.  
"Do you… Do you really want to know?" she asked slowly.  
Medid nodded quickly.  
"Are you sure? There's no way back if you do!"  
Medid nodded again.  
"Alright then… But I will have to show you. I cannot tell you: you wouldn't believe me, no matter how much you'd try," Femke said while she stood up as well. "Follow me, please."

Without the least bit of resistance, Medid followed Femke, up the stairs, to the loft. It was old, dark and dusty: like most lofts. Some old stuff was standing around, some mothballs were lying on the floor, while the musty scent of old clothing and damp filled their lungs.  
Femke closed the door and locked it, then opened an ordinary box and took out a bottle with a brown-ish liquid in it. She opened the bottle, and immediately a strong scent of iron mixed with the musty scent of before filled their lungs.  
Medid waved it away. "Yuk! What _is_ that?"  
"That," Femke started, "is of life importance. So we're taking it with us."  
"Sure, okay, whatever you say," Medid said, beginning to doubt Femke's honesty by now.  
"Good… Well, I think we can go back to my room, now… It's a safe place, for as far as I know."  
Medid shrugged. What a bunch of meaningless blabbering… She usually believed Femke without any questioning, but really now? Conspiracies? Bottles of life importance? It seemed more like a bad joke to her now…  
When they were back in Femke's room, Femke told Medid to lie down while she poured some of the liquid into a smaller bottle.  
"It doesn't work out too well if you do it while sitting," she muttered softly as she passed Medid the small bottle. "Keep this somewhere safe. And you can lie down on my bed while you're there."  
"What doesn't work out?" Medid immediately asked, putting the bottle in her pocket.  
"You'll see, I can't explain. But there are a few things you need to know first!" Femke said while grabbing it bottle out of Medid's pocket, back into her hand. "That won't do. You need to hold it!"  
"Okay, fine," Medid said, now holding the bottle again. "Just hurry, I'm curious! Tell me those 'things I need to know'! Come on, let me at 'em!" Medid chirped, smiling.

Femke giggled. "Okay, seriously. First is: do not panic! Stay calm, you'll find your way out eventually, even if you think you won't. Second is; if you'll get dizzy or feel like you're going to collapse, take _one_ sip of the liquid in the bottle, nothing more," she answered with a warning glare. "Third is; don't just trust anyone. Fourth is: if you're in trouble, then try to flee; do not fight just yet. You need to get used to it first. Last one… One year there, is nothing more but one minute here. So don't worry about time: that's not problem."  
Medid looked confused at Femke now. At first she really felt like she was just fooling around, but now the feeling she might be telling the truth grew stronger.  
"We're going somewhere…? How do we get back? It sounds so vague!"  
Femke let out a small sigh. "That's a bit of a problem; you don't decide when you go back yourself. You randomly snap out of it. Sometimes you're in there for 3 minutes, and then you go again and you're there for a month."  
"Will we see each other there…?" Medid asked, not liking the thought of going somewhere unknown for a long time without Femke – or at least someone familiar.  
"Can't promise, it likes to switch places," was the answer while Femke was looking for something under her bed.  
"What likes to switch places?"  
"It," Femke replied shortly as she got up with a small cup in her hands. "Now all you need to do," – Femke gave Medid the small cup with a substance in it that looked like tea – "is take one sip of this, then close your eyes. You'll be there before you know it."  
Looking at the cup, Medid felt a bit of doubt. But she wanted understand Femke so badly, and she was in for a little adventure! If she'd really come back like Femke said, what had she got to lose?

"_It's for the sake of our friendship."_

Medid was determined that Femke and she'd stay best friends, no matter what. She waved Femke's words away, and took a sip of the 'tea', before she'd change her mind. She felt it burn in her mouth, and quickly she felt it flow through her veins – still burning.  
"Eyes closed!" she heard Femke shout.  
She quickly did as told, and felt her head pound like crazy now. She tightened the grab around the bottle Femke gave her before.  
"Please remember what I said," she heard Femke's voice weakly echoing through her head, soon to be drowned by the sound of her own heartbeat, getting louder every second – until she felt nothing of it anymore.


	4. Chapter Four: What Happened?

_Pounding. Endless pounding.  
__What is going on? Where am I?  
__I can't see. I can't open my eyes.  
__What happened? What's going to happen?  
__I feel no floor. Am I floating?  
__Can I get out of here? Where should I go?  
__I hear voices… What's happening?_

"Ikram, look! Who is this? How did this woman get here?"  
"What's happened?"  
"This is witchcraft! It's a witch, I tell you!"  
"Warn the soldiers! _Warn the soldiers_!"  
"What? Is it witchcraft? We should –"

Slowly Medid tried to open her eyes: everything was blurry. Her head was still pounding; it almost felt like a hangover at first.  
"She's awake!" the panicked voice of a woman with a heavy foreign accent shouted over the place. Shortly, it was followed by the sound of short, panicked shrieks and quick footsteps, probably caused by a small crowd running away.  
Medid tried to get up, confused by what had happened and looked around, her vision getting less blurry every second. She closed her eyes and focussed on her breathing to calm down.  
When she opened her eyes, she let out a small cry and looked around. This wasn't Femke's room; that's for sure. This didn't even look like Ephrany anymore; this was way older than their quiet small town. She quickly crawled up and looked around. There was indeed a crowd running away – but all these people! They all looked so old as well. This wasn't… This just wasn't real.  
Medid didn't bother trying to get up. This was nothing but a dream. Femke gave her some sort of freaky dream-make-stuff and that's it. "Wake up. I have to wake up!" she told herself quickly. She quickly hit herself in the face. It burned. That wasn't good: in dreams you can't feel pain. She did it again, this time a bit harder, but her face still hurt. She was about to do it again, but all of sudden, Medid's thoughts were cut off by the sound of another crowd running – just this one was _towards _her, and sounded furious instead of afraid. Plus; there was clattering with their footsteps.  
She looked in the direction of the crowd. She recognized the armour, and realized: this was _not_ good."Kill her! Kill the witch!" she heard some of the Templars' voices yell.  
Dream or not, she had to take action right now.

"_If you're in trouble, then try to flee; do not fight just yet."_

She quickly got up, and ran towards the opposite direction than the Knights. Realizing some of them rode horseback, she ran as fast as she could, which wasn't _very_ fast, since she always had been lazy.  
Breathing heavily by now, she ran towards the gates of the old town, until she reached a bewildered space of shrubs and tall grass.  
It wouldn't take long for the Templars to catch up with her now, because she felt a sting in her ribs which caused her to run slower.  
'_I have to hide_,' she thought, '_but where_?'

Quickly, she was grabbed in her collar by a hand, who pulled her up to a slightly higher road. Less than a second later she felt another hand covering her mouth, while the person ran towards a haystack, pushing her down with them.  
Medid tried to scream, but that ended up in nothing more but a smothered, short sound.  
After a few seconds, the same person pulled her out of the haystack and let go of her.  
Medid immediately tried to flee again, but got pulled back immediately.  
"Ungrateful child!" she heard an annoyed male voice hiss near her ear.  
Quickly after that, he grabbed Medid by her shoulders and pushed her against the wall.  
Recognizing he wore an Assassin's clothing, she knew he was about to hit her until she'd say something – just like in the game itself.  
"Don't hit me!" she immediately chirped. "I'll talk!"  
He huffed and looked at her with a suspicious look in his eyes. They obviously were a really bright colour of blue, because she could see it underneath his hood.  
"Good," he said firm. "Your clothing. Explain!" he almost shouted.  
Medid looked at her clothes. Nikes, jeans, a red t-shirt and a black hoodie. She just now realized how much she stood out from the crowd, and why the people just now thought she was a witch.  
"I…" she started slowly. "I… Well, you see…" She stayed silent, and received an impatient, warning glare from the Assassin.  
"You won't believe me," she made of it. "But I'm not from here."  
"That information is useless! I can hear that because of your accent. Your clothing – I have never seen or heard of it before. Explain!" he said, raising his hand, ready to hit Medid if necessary.  
"No, no! I mean; I'm not from this century!" she quickly replied.  
"Not from this century? That's nonsense! I'll give you one more chance, woman! Explain, or die!"  
Medid gulped. "I'm from the future, I guess… I'm not sure. But I'm not a witch! I swear! I'm begging you, please believe me!"  
The Assassin opened his mouth to speak, but Medid kept on talking. "If I could go back to where I came from I would! And I eventually will! But I can't decide when! I was told by a friend—"  
"Is your friend here as well? Who is she? Is she a witch?" he immediately asked, obviously alarmed.  
Medid shook her head quickly. "She knew how to get me here, but she's not a witch… I don't know how she did it!" Would she explain everything to him? It seemed careless, but, there wasn't really much of a choice. "Really, believe me! I'll tell you everything I know!"  
"I don't believe you," was the cold reply. "But I will listen."  
"Okay," Medid started, and took a deep breath. "At first, I was in class, - err, I was studying… And well, suddenly, there was this bird, and then I looked around and I saw Femke glowing in red and—"  
The Assassin seemed interested in that. "You saw someone glowing red? How do you mean?"  
Medid was surprised by his interest, and by the fact he didn't think of it as magic. "She- she was entirely red! And I told her, and then she gave me this drink, and then I got here!"

With a thoughtful expression and a slight frown, the man looked at Medid. He stayed silent for a moment, then muttered something to himself, and grabbed Medid's arm.  
"You're coming with me."  
"What?" Medid gasped, knowing that wasn't a good idea. "No! No, I c—"  
"You're either coming with me or you'll die right now!" he yelled in her face.

Medid knew she had no other choice… But what would happen? What would he do to her?  
And what about Femke?


	5. Chapter Five: Welcome To The Family

By now Medid was standing in a warm room in a village in the middle of nowhere: the Assassin blindfolded her when they were walking through the woods while mumbling something among the lines of 'not allowed' and 'hidden'. Now Medid already wasn't too happy to be dragged along by the Assassin in the first place, but the fact he made her walk for at least two hours from which certainly was 1 hour blindfolded, she really felt herself slowly lose her temper. She already had a hard time staying polite to the Assassin when he tied her hands together so she couldn't get away when he took her to the room, but now he let her wait there all alone – still blindfolded – for God knows how long without any information about what was going to happen and where he was going himself, she'd give her left arm to give him a piece of her mind.

Just as Medid was about to start yelling for someone to come and explain all of this to her, she could hear the rattling of the opening of an old door lock. She turned her head into the direction of the sound of calm footsteps walking towards the other side of the room. They were followed by much quicker footsteps.

"Carlos, my child, take that cloth off the poor girl's head. I cannot speak to her like that," a kind, old voice sounded, probably coming from a man somewhere in his fifties.

As an answer the quicker footsteps stepped towards Medid and finally made her able to see again. She looked up to indeed see a quite tall, old man with Assassin's clothing (but then much more detailed) looking at her with kind eyes which were as blue as midnight itself. She also saw that this 'Carlos' he was talking to was the Assassin who threatened her. _The old man must be their Mentor_, Medid told herself. _I mean, Carlos does precisely what is asked of him, and doesn't talk back_.

Medid opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a stomp in her stomach.  
"You do not speak to a Mentor unless spoken to!" Carlos hissed at her, but the Mentor spoken of raised his hand as a sign for Carlos to stop.

"Patience, my child. It's a valuable thing," he said, sitting down behind a cherrywood desk. "Carlos, I'd appreciate it if you'd untie her. She doesn't seem to be that dangerous," he said softly.  
Medid let her hand stroke the place on her belly which Carlos stomped, and gave Carlos an offended look as he untied her hands, receiving an irritated glare from him. When her hands were free and Carlos was standing in his position again, everyone was silent for a while.

"Well," the Mentor said, breaking the silence. "Carlos here has told me about your little encounter with the Templars, and what you said after he brought you to safety." He was quiet for a second. "I have to admit your words were unclear, so I'd like to give you another chance to explain yourself, this time with my presence. But first things first; what is your name?"  
Medid took a deep breath and was glad to see there was someone who listened to her. That wouldn't mean her story was suddenly logical, but it gave an opportunity to tell the truth.  
"My name is Medid Tycillian, and I'm from the Netherlands," she started, and saw the Mentor frown. "The Netherlands…?" he asked slowly. "Where lies that?"  
Medid was the one to frown now. "Next to Germany. Above Belgium?"  
The Mentor looked puzzled.  
"Master, if I may," the voice of Carlos sounded again. "She may just try to confuse us by making up countries. I know you think of her as no evil, but just hear the things she says now! The Netherlands? Where lies that? I've never heard of Netherlandelites or such!"  
Medid was a little confused at first, but then finally realized this was the Middle Ages, and since she either slept or just didn't pay attention in History class didn't know how the countries were called back then. This explained so much! But it didn't give her a logical explanation for them.  
"Please don't believe him," Medid said, nodding her head to Carlos. "U-um… Germany… Was it called Prussia? Or… Um…"  
Carlos gave her another angry glare. "Prussia? Did you hear that, Mentor? Now it's suddenly _Prussia_ where she's from!"  
The Mentor sighed. "I have to admit I have to think about the possibility Carlos here just stated," he said, looking a little concerned at Medid. "I have never heard of Prussia. Nor the Netherlands. Or Belgium – was it?"  
"No, no, no," Medid quickly said. "All I want to say is… I'm from the future! That's why I can't explain anything."  
"Future? How?" the Mentor asked. "Magic? Are you a witch?"  
"No!" Medid yelped again, starting to feel desperate. "Look, I know you're trying to understand, but it just isn't possible! I don't understand it myself!"  
The old man shook his head. "Let's leave this unclear, then… Carlos told me you actually have the ability to use Eagle Vision. Is that true?"  
"Don't count on her telling the truth, Mentor. It seems she likes to make up stories," Carlos's voice sounded through the hollow room again.  
Gosh, if looks could kill, Carlos would have died instantly now, because Medid gave him a look that would make the Devil himself scream for his mother.  
"I don't know. I saw someone glowing in bright red," she murmured.  
"Bright red means it was an enemy," the Mentor said simply.

Medid froze. It's as if it just sunk in. Bright red was the colour of the enemy. But Femke was her best friend: she wasn't her enemy. That's impossible.]  
"Is… Is Eagle Vision ever wrong…?" she tried, although she already knew the answer.  
"It has never failed to speak the truth, no," the Mentor said. "Why?"  
Medid looked at her feet. "My… Well, my best friend was glowing red," she whispered.  
She slowly looked up at the Mentor, seeing something that looked awfully much like pity in his eyes.  
Carlos just scoffed.

Medid's words kept hanging in the air for a minute or six (which felt like a century to Medid) and the Mentor looked up with a determined, firm expression.  
"Carlos, please get this girl, um, Medid, wasn't it?" – Medid nodded – "Yes. Give Medid proper clothing and a sword! We're going to teach her our ways," he added with a smile.  
"What?" Medid asked, startled.  
Carlos was even more startled than Medid. "What? But, Master, that—"  
"Silence, Carlos. A lot is unclear: I am aware. But I know she is not evil, and thus I have decided. She will be taught our ways. She will be taught our ways _and_ will be treated like a sister. Do not ask me why, for you wouldn't understand. This is my final decision."

Carlos was as pale as ever now, and cursed underneath his breath. "As you wish, Master," he said with his teeth gritted as the Mentor walked towards Medid.  
He stuck out his hand and Medid shook it weakly.

"My name is Giovenzo, and I am your Mentor from now on. Welcome, Medid, to your new family."


	6. Chapter Six: See What We Will See

**Author's note: first of all, I'm really, really sorry for being gone for so long! There's been a lot of BIG stuff going on, that really made it to my list of top-priorities. Secondly, I'll be as active as I can from now on! Thirdly, mostly directed at Smileydragon: I'll make it up to you. I've become a much better artist and have a much better program now, and shall make another - better drawing of your beautiful Assassin!  
**

* * *

Medid looked awkwardly around. She was sitting down on a chair by now. She wore an Assassin's attire, but wasn't too happy about it. Usually she would've killed to wear it and go all fangirl over it, but now she realized she was wearing it because she was about to actually train in it, she was nervous as heck. By that, she thought of Femke. What was she doing now? Would she be worried? Would she be looking for her now? Medid didn't know.

"Come, you little brat," Carlos's voice sounded from the doorway. "Time to chop you into bits."

Medid winced. She received a long, light sword together with the attire, but she didn't really look forward to using it anytime soon. By that, it would be a bad idea to disobey the Assassins, she thought.

"Coming…" she muttered like a child did to his mother on a school morning. She stood up and with heavy footsteps she walked towards Carlos who immediately turned his back to her and walked outside. She observed the area around her. She was in a very, very small village surrounded by woods. There were very few houses, but what was most striking of all was that it appeared to be the houses of Assassins. This village was filled with nothing but silent hooded people, and even though there weren't many, Medid felt very uncomfortable walking among them.

When Carlos suddenly stopped walking, she bumped into him, receiving another irritated glare.  
"Step inside," he said, pointing towards a small round field with a fence around it.  
Medid looked at it as if it was a giant spider. A training field? Really? Was he really about to make her train there? While all those Assassins were watching and judging her? That was way worse than a presentation for school!  
"C-can't I train somewhere else? I've never even held a decent sword!" she whispered to Carlos.  
"Step inside!" he shouted back at her, catching the attention of a rather young Assassin walking by.

The Assassin inspected Medid's face, and tugged another Assassin's sleeve. That Assassin looked up with a look on his face that looked a lot like Carlos's. Annoyed, stern and embittered. The younger Assassin pointed towards Medid and looked at the other Assassin with an almost begging look in his eyes.  
'_Go away,'_ Medid thought. '_Nothing to see here! Leave!'  
_All of her hope disappeared when the stern Assassin sighed and walked towards the field with the younger one. No way. Were they about to stand there and look at her utter failure now? Really? Medid felt like someone punched her in her stomach, but quickly jumped over the fence before Carlos got the opportunity to actually do so. And with that Carlos left. Medid didn't know whether to feel relieved or afraid.

"Hi! I've never seen you here before!" the young Assassin from the other side of the fence called out.  
"Shut up, Adil," the older one grumbled.  
"But, Hamid, aren't you interested in her? Look!" he replied. "Who are you?" he called out to Medid again.  
"I… I am Medid Tycillian…" she muttered, looking at her boots.  
"Nice to meet you! Who are you going to train with?"  
Medid shrugged. She wished she knew.  
"Stop bugging her," Hamid replied, looking angrily at Adil. "Don't you see she doesn't want to talk?"  
"Oh, err, I don't- I don't really-" Medid was cut off by an angry glare. "Nevermind…" she whispered more to herself than at Hamid or Adil.

Just as she thought Carlos ditched her, she saw him coming back with a really, really young Assassin next to him.  
"There. Novice versus novice," Carlos grinned.  
With little effort the little boy climbed over the fence and walked inside the training field. Medid looked at the boy as if he was on fire. How old was that kid? Eight? Was Carlos really about to make her do this? Now she wouldn't just utterly fail; she would be defeated by a toddler.

"Oh, she's against Ahmet!" Adil chirped happily.  
Ahmet. Nice. Medid could already hear the village giggle and whisper behind her back. 'Did you know? That 16 years old new girl got her butt kicked by little Ahmet!'

As Ahmet gave her a friendly look, he drew his little sword.  
With crimson red cheeks of embarrassment Medid did the same.

When the sign of the fight started, all Medid knew was to aimlessly swing around with her sword. It seemed to amuse Carlos a lot, who was watching them with a grin from ear to ear. Luckily Ahmet only knew little tricks, but that didn't stop her from falling sometimes, or yelping when his sword suddenly hit her. All she did the first half was trying to defend the little swings of Ahmet's sword, but when she caught the drift of his little tricks, she dared attacking him. He blocked most of them easily, but Medid started to care less and less. This didn't really hurt her, and even though she knew most of the Assassins standing around the training field were silently laughing at her, she just liked doing this. She liked the feeling of swinging her sword. Sure, sometimes she fell, or accidentally dropped her sword, but those moments started to matter less and less to her. After some time Carlos gave the sign to stop fighting, and Ahmet looked at Medid with tired, friendly eyes.  
"You're not that bad, madam," he said with a tender voice that almost made Medid 'd'awww' out loud.

She was about to answer him, but Carlos grabbed her collar and dragged her along with her.

"That was pathetic. You've got much – _much_ to learn…"


	7. Chapter Seven: Silent Moon

After Carlos dragged her to the Mentor again and did his complaints about her, Medid was told to wander around the village and meet the other people. Of course she was not allowed to leave the tiny village, but the small feeling of freedom was comforting. She was able to do whatever she wanted to do now, and in this case; it was nothing. The chaos in her head caused by the sudden change in time, the people she didn't know and the control they had over her grew a strong desire to be alone for some time, so she decided to wait a bit before she was about to walk throughout the village, and made herself comfortable among the horses instead.

She softly patted the head of a brown-white horse, who softly snorted in approval. The other horses were keeping their distance of him, but he seemed friendly.  
"You're my favourite," Medid softly muttered to the horse. "You remind me of myself," she chuckled. "One of them, but still alone."  
The horse made a compassionate sound.

"Oh, you like him?" an unknown female voice sounded.  
Medid turned around to see another hooded figure. However, she looked nice to her.  
"I'm Angelina," she explained. "I'm the one who checks on everything and everyone. To see if we've got enough in the stocks, if everyone is present when dusk falls. Such things! You must be Tycillian," she said, sitting on a haystack next to Medid.  
"Yes, but you can call me Medid, you know," she replied, surprised by Angelina's kindness.  
"Sure thing, if that's what you want. Anyway, you like him?" she asked, nodding towards the brown-white horse. "He's new as well! Well, sort of, then. We actually nabbed him from the Templars in Lotem, but he just arrived there as a new horse as well," she said, grinning. "Yeah, this big boy has been through a lot of travelling."  
Medid smiled. She liked Angelina. The way she spoke to her was not as distant as the others did.

"Can you ride horse?" she asked Medid, sincerely interested.  
Medid shook her head. "I never really liked horses that much. But the ones here seem so different."  
"Well, we can help that!" Angelina said, hopping off the haystack. "If you're going to stay with us, you need to learn how to ride these beauties."  
With a forced smile Medid hopped off as well. "Hurray…"  
"Hey, don't you worry. This is totally different from training. There are no winners or losers here, we're not going to race."  
"Okay then," Medid replied with a sigh of relief. "I guess I'll try my best then.""Oh, you better not guess! You better just do it," Angelina laughed, giving Medid a friendly punch on her shoulder. "You need a horse. Do you want that one?" she asked, pointing at the same horse Medid had been talking to.  
"Alright! But, won't he be afraid of me?"  
"Not once he gets used to you. You need to name it, though."  
"Name it?" Medid asked slowly. "But he's not _mine_ as in – really my property."  
Angelina chuckled. "Everyone rider has a horse they prefer the most. Some horses even refuse to listen to anyone but the one who rode them the first time! So, you name it. He'll be all yours."  
Medid looked a little puzzled. A horse of her own. It wasn't a bad thing, she assumed.  
"So, what's his name?" Angelina asked, opening the fence.  
"Well, he's quiet…" Medid said slowly. "And the other horses seem to avoid him like the pl-" Medid cut off her sentence. 'Avoiding him like the plague.' Would that be offending, since this was the Middle Ages and all? "…Like… how people avoid the night," she made of it, not really sure if what she said made sense.  
Angelina grinned.

Medid took a look at the horse, and stayed silent for some time.  
"Silent Moon."  
"Silent Moon?"  
"Yes," Medid said, looking at her trusty steed. "That'll be his name."  
Angelina took a look at the horse. She then turned her head to Medid and smiled. "Sounds about right!"

Medid and Angelina stepped into the field. Silent Moon was a little uneasy at first, but he followed Medid nonetheless.  
"Give the good ol' rouncey a little something to bite first, okay?" Angelina said, putting some food into Medid's left hand.  
"Rouncey?" she asked slowly while letting Silent Moon sniff her hand.  
"You don't know what a rouncey is? You don't know a lot about horses then, do you? A rouncey is a horse good for pretty much everything. There's a difference between war horses, and a clumsy pony with stretched legs. Rouncies are quite fast, can jump a respectable height, they're okay."  
Medid just nodded at that. She knew she'd forget it sooner or later anyway.

"Why do you want me to feed him first?" she asked, seeing how Silent Moon started to eat out of her hand.  
"That way he'll know you mean him no harm," Angelina said, getting her own horse from the group. "This is Honesty!"  
Medid looked with a confused expression at Angelina. "Weren't you honest before, then?"  
Apparently Angelina thought that was hilarious, since she started laughing immediately. "No, you silly! It's his name! Honesty is his name!"  
"Oh, right," Medid said giggling. She didn't really laugh because of her mistake, but Silent Moon's tongue was tickling the palm of her hand by now.

"So, you ready to get on Silent Moon?" Angelina asked, attaching spurs to Medid's shoes.  
"I guess so," Medid said, feeling more comfortable already.  
Angelina nodded and grabbed Honesty's horse reins. With a quick jump she hopped on him as Honesty made a slightly offended sound.  
"Try it," Angelina said, smiling.  
Medid looked at Silent Moon's saddle with a questioning look. The saddles on the horses looked incomplete to her, but then again; this was the Middle Ages.  
She tried doing what Angelina just did, but Silent Moon let out a short, dissatisfied sound and shook his head.  
"Try again, you almost had it," Angelina encouraged Medid.

Medid tried it again, and even though it was really clumsy and improvised – it was this time with success. She wrapped her hands around Silent Moon's neck to make sure she didn't fall off. "It's… It's so high," Medid muttered, looking down.  
"I know," Angelina said. "You'll get used to it. First, sit up straight, and hold his horse reins tightly."  
"I- I'll try," Medid said, trying to sit up. She held the horse reins very tightly, causing Silent Moon to whinny. The sudden sound startled Medid, but before she fell off, Angelina grabber her arm and pushed her back on. "Not _that_ tight!" she corrected her.  
Medid nodded, feeling her heart race in her chest because of the scare just now. "I'll remember that."  
"Good!" Angelina said. "Now, try to get used to the feeling, okay?"  
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid all of my focus is directed at my top priority; not falling off."  
Angelina chuckled, and rolled her light blue eyes.

After some time chatting with each other and impatient sounds of the horses, Medid finally decided to give Angelina the sign to go to the next step.

"Click your tongue like this," – she made a small, quick sound – "and then tug the horse reins lightly." As she did that, Honesty started walking slowly. "If you want to turn, just pull the horse reins in the right direction. The harder you tug, the quicker he'll turn. But be careful; horses don't like it when you tug really hard – so don't panic. If he doesn't listen to your commands, use the spurs to correct them."  
Medid nodded, and tried to do what Angelina said. It was really clumsy, but it went pretty okay. She took a deep breath and just let Silent Moon calmly walk around the field.  
"Good!" Angelina praised. "Get used to that!" She looked up at the sky and startled. "Oh my! I need to check on the stocks!" she called out. She hopped off Honesty, and helped Medid get off Silent Moon.  
"Sorry about that! I'll teach you more tomorrow!" she said.  
Medid didn't mind it – she was way too happy to stand on the ground with her two feet again.

"Goodbye, Medid!" Angelina called out, running towards the other side of the village.

"See you later!" Medid called back, receiving a confused, but friendly smile back before Angelina was out of sight.


	8. Chapter Eight: One Awkward Assassin

Medid smiled. That was the first person she met and actually liked! Somehow, it made her feel more confident. I mean, maybe there were more Assassins here like her? Carlos still seemed to be talking to Giovenzo, so all that was left for Medid to do now was wander around. With her hopes up she walked to the centre of the village. There weren't a lot of people out there, but that was probably because the village was as tiny as can be. As she passed the building where the mentor lived, she spotted three Assassins at the back. One of them was riding a horse which obviously did not feel like being ridden since it was rearing up wildly, desperately trying to get the hooded figure off him. The tallest one of the Assassins was yelling at the Assassin riding the horse, and the smallest, slimmer Assassin was just watching them.

At first Medid thought they were in need of help, but it seemed it was a common issue, since everyone flat out ignored them. Nonetheless, she wanted to talk to them. After all, the mentor told her to get to know the other Assassins. Deciding she wanted to make a good impression she fixed her hair, wiped the dust off her clothing, put on her most confident expression and walked right to them.

The slim Assassin seemed to be the first one to notice her. She seemed to be a young woman in her early twenties. Her long, blonde hair reminded Medid of Femke, but she quickly waved away that thought, not wanting to miss her.

"Hello," Medid said to her, smiling.  
"Hi there," the blonde haired Assassin replied. "Are you… Medid?" she asked slowly.  
"I'm afraid so," Medid replied, grinning.  
The Assassin laughed. "Nice to meet you. I am Fiorella! Don't mind my brothers here, they're always like this."  
The tallest Assassin turned himself to Fiorella. "I can't help it! Lorenzo just doesn't listen to me!"  
"It's not me! It's the horse, damn it!" Lorenzo called out, trying not to fall off the stallion.  
"If you wouldn't be so stubborn, maybe he would listen to you!" Francesco sneered back.  
Lorenzo yelped, almost falling off. "It's not my fault, I told you! This stupid horse keeps doing the exact opposite of what he should do!"  
Fiorella gasped. "Horses are not stupid! They're cute!"  
"Oh, shut up, Fiorella!" Lorenzo called back. "This one is not!"  
Francesco sighed and then turned to Medid. "My name is Francesco L'Aquila, mentor Giovenzo's eldest son."  
Medid greeted him with a nod. If he wouldn't have told her he was the mentor's son she still would've seen that. He resembled his father in almost every way possible.  
"The patsy on the horse is Lorenzo," Fiorella explained, pointing in his direction. "My other brother. He's older than me and thinks he's some sort of Prince Charming."  
Medid chuckled. "Nice," she answered. "Are your brothers always like this?" she asked, nodding towards Francesco shouting at Lorenzo.  
"Most of time they are," she said. "But deep down inside they do love each other."  
"Well, you know what they say. There's a fine line between love and hate!" She tried to remember what Femke said to her some time ago. "A close friend of mine once said something that. She said that there's a reason yin and yang lie together. That the closest thing to good is evil."

Medid didn't even know what that meant herself. Femke usually came up with such theories. About how life resembled a game of chess, how a person's soul was like a butterfly's wings, about a how a person's feelings resembled a ball of glass. Medid liked it when Femke made these things up, because they sounded so wise. Snapped out of her thoughts she looked at Fiorella.

"_Si_…" Fiorella replied softly, looking at the ground. "_Si_, it is…"

Medid was about to ask her if she said something wrong, but was interrupted by two firm hands grabbing her shoulders and turning her around.  
"Why, hello, madam!" the Assassin who was previously on the horse called out cheerfully. "You must be Medid! That is a _wonderful_ name," he replied, standing awkwardly close to her.  
Medid took a step back. "Err… Thank you," she replied as he stepped towards her again.  
"My, my, you've got a cute accent there! Where are you from?" he asked, looking into her eyes.  
"I, err, that's kind of hard to explain," Medid stuttered, feeling uneasy.  
"Ah, that doesn't matter! I am quite fond of mysterious young ladies like you, to be honest," he said seductively as he winked at her.  
Medid winced and Fiorella rolled her eyes. This Assassin seemed way too interested in her.  
"Say, such a beautiful lady like you simply _must_ be courting someone, am I right?"  
"C-courting?" Medid asked, not knowing what it meant. "I… err…"  
Lorenzo's green eyes scanned her face. "Shy, aren't we? My, my, I don't mind th-"  
"That's enough," Francesco said, grabbing Lorenzo's collar and dragging him back.  
"Wha-? Francesco!" Lorenzo called out. "Don't you see I'm busy here?!"  
Francesco dragged Lorenzo along with him to the horses again. "Oh, believe me; you'll have plenty of time after I'm done with you!"

Medid just awkwardly stood there, glad that Lorenzo was gone.  
She turned herself to Fiorella again, who was daydreaming.  
"Um, Fiorella?" Medid asked carefully.  
"_Si_, sweetheart?" she asked dreamy.  
Medid blinked at that. "Err, Fiorella," she repeated, softly shaking her shoulders.  
"Ah! Wh-what-? What did-? Oh! Eh, _s-si_?" she asked, obviously startled.  
"Good, you're back!" Medid said. "I wanted to apologize for what I said before…" She shyly looked at Fiorella, preparing for the worst.  
"You said something?" Fiorella asked with a questioning look in her eyes.  
Didn't she remember?  
"Yes," Medid said. "About that fine line. You seemed to be hurt in some sort of way by that. You were suddenly very quiet and looked down."  
There was a short sparkle of enlightenment in Fiorella's eyes and she quickly shook her head. "Oh, that! Oh no, it's fine," she said. "It just reminded me of something."  
"May I ask what?" Medid asked curiously. She had always been a curious person.  
"Oh, it's unimportant," Fiorella said, smiling at Medid. "Forget about it."  
Medid shrugged, but she still wanted to know what it was.

Fiorella nodded. "Anyway, father told me that you're special!" She started walking, probably expecting Medid to walk along with her.  
So naturally, Medid did.  
"He did?" she asked. "Wow, I had no idea."  
"_Si_."

Medid looked at Fiorella. "Are you from Italy?" she asked. After she asked that she immediately wanted to punch herself for asking such an obvious question, but decided not to, since the situation was already awkward as it was.  
Fiorella laughed. "_Si_, my family is from Italy," she said, grinning. "That includes me. But where are you from? I don't recognize your accent."  
"Well, there's been a lot of discussing about that little thing," Medid said, sighing. "It's called The Netherlands. But it seems to be unknown to you."  
Fiorella shook her head. "No, I never heard of it."

This conversation was not exactly going well. There were short, awkward pauses, and the subjects were really strange. Medid quickly thought of something else to ask her, not wanting to endure the silence any longer.  
"Fiorella…?" Medid asked slowly. "What is courting?"  
Fiorella chuckled. "Are you serious? Don't you know that?" She let out a short, dreamy sigh. "Courting is when you're in love and that person loves you back. It's what plays before you start striving for marriage."  
"Like a boyfriend?" Medid asked without thinking.  
"A boy friend? Well, no. You can have several male friends, but there's only one man you can court."  
Medid smiled at Fiorella's comment. Of course. They probably didn't use that term in the Middle Ages.

"Such innocence!" Lorenzo's voice sounded from behind them.  
Medid turned around, smiling forcefully. "Oh, hey there, Lorenzo…"  
Fiorella didn't bother smiling; she even softly growled when she heard her brother's voice.  
"Ah, my name said by your voice sounds like music to my ears," he said.  
"Yes, yes, that's nice," Medid said awkwardly.  
Fiorella sighed and looked at Lorenzo as if he was a little boy she was about to scold. "Lorenzo! Did you follow us? Francesco wanted to train you, didn't he?"  
"Who cares what he wants?" Lorenzo replied with a whole other tune in his voice. Not cheery and flirty – but annoyed and a tad deeper. "All he wants is to kiss up to father."  
He turned to Medid again, as his voice changed. "By that, I think settling in this lovely lass should be our greatest concern!"  
"_Si_, and I'm doing a great job doing so. You don't appear to be needed here," Fiorella said.  
"Of course I'm needed. Everyone needs a strong man to look after them! Not that I'll need to look after you, sister, but Medid here is not really what you call _skilled_ yet."  
Fiorella huffed. "As if you're such a good fighter! You can't even-" Lorenzo quickly put his finger on her lips. "Hush, you. I want to talk to Medid."

"H-hey, guys, please don't get into a fuss because of me!" Medid tried.  
"Oh, it's fine, really," Lorenzo said, smiling.  
Fiorella looked at Lorenzo with an annoyed expression, but he didn't seem to notice or care.  
"I just want to be able to get to know you," Lorenzo said. "It's not very often that there are pretty lasses here."

'_Alright, Casanova,'_ Medid thought. '_You're beginning to really creep me out now.'_

Fiorella seemed to notice her thoughts and turned to Lorenzo. "All right, white knight! Get lost! I'll tell on you! Father won't be pleased to hear that you've been bothering Medid!"  
"I don't care what that old man thinks of me," Lorenzo said to Fiorella in that same deep tune again.

"Well, you should," Francesco's voice sounded all of sudden.  
Lorenzo jumped up in surprise. "Francesco!"  
"Hello to you too, Lorenzo. Now let's get moving. And don't you dare run away again!" He looked at Medid. "Oh, right. Father wishes to see you."  
"Don't let him bother her," Lorenzo murmured, his arm held firmly by Francesco.

Medid sighed. Goodbye, freedom. He was about to tell her what to do again.  
"It doesn't matter," she lied. "I'll just go see what he wants."


	9. Chapter Nine: Curiosity Killed The Cat

When Medid arrived at the mentor's home and walked to his study room she tried to ignore the suspicious and unfriendly looks some Assassins gave her. She looked at the big, wooden door standing before her and knocked three times.

"Come in," the voice of the mentor sounded from the other side.  
Medid carefully opened the door and slowly stepped inside. "You… You wanted to see me?" she asked softly, seeing how the old man still was busy singing some papers and documents.  
"You are correct. I assume my son Francesco informed you," he said, keeping his eyes locked on the papers. "You need somewhere to stay. Now I do not think of you as a danger, but for the safety of my children I do not wish to let you stay in my house just yet," he continued.  
Medid nodded. "I understand."  
"But you still need somewhere to sleep. That is why I shall let you stay at the library."  
Medid frowned. Was he telling her to sleep among the bookcases now? Apparently the mentor noticed her frown, and looked at her with something that looked like a very small smile.  
"The library is also the home of Hamid and his younger brother Adil," he explained. "Hamid is always very busy, because he is the librarian _and_ the one who draws the maps for our Assassins; something that needs to be done with care. He could use your help."  
Hamid and Adil. She heard those names before. It didn't take long for Medid to realise it. They were the ones who watched her training with Ahmet. Adil was cheery and tried to speak to her, while Hamid was more of a grump.  
"I see," she said slowly. "But doesn't his brother help him if he's that busy, then?"  
The mentor's smile grew. "Adil? Well… I'm afraid that even if Adil would lend Hamid a hand, it wouldn't be much of a help. Adil tries. He really does, and there is improvement, but it's really slow. He has much, much to learn…"  
"But I'm even more inexperienced than him," Medid protested.  
"That's true, but like I said; Adil learns slow. You seem to learn a lot faster, so you'll be much more of an actual help to Hamid," he said, putting the papers he just signed in the drawer.  
Medid wasn't sure if she felt like helping Hamid. Not because she didn't want to work; she didn't mind some chores, but he seemed very impatient, and as a girl from the 21st century who had no idea what was going on or how things were like this century, that wasn't much of a blessing.  
"…Thank you for finding a place for me to stay," she made of it, not wanting to lie. "Must I go there right now?" she asked with an insecure tone. "I don't really know where the library is, you know."  
"The village is very small. You'll find it. It's in the south-east."  
Medid nodded. "Thank you once again… mentor…" she said, wanting to show respect.  
He smiled at her.  
She turned around and walked towards the door.  
"Ah, and Medid," the voice of the mentor sounded once again. "You should not worry about Hamid's impatience. He's not as dangerous as he appears to be."  
Surprised by the fact it seemed like he just read her mind, she almost turned around to ask him how he knew she thought about that, but instead her legs kept walking, closing the door behind her.

South-east. She repeated it many times in her head, but she had no idea where the north was. South-east. She glanced over at a quite big building in the distance. She ran towards it. Would this be the library at last? She looked inside the places where would be windows in the 21st century. No, this building was empty. Nothing but wood, dust and spiders.  
Medid let out an annoyed sigh. She walked to the left side of the building. Trees.  
She let out another annoyed sigh, this one louder so it sounded more like a growl. She walked to the right side of the building, and saw a smaller building a few feet away from her. She walked towards it, thinking it would be too small for a library. As she walked closer, she smelled the strong scent of herbs and plants. Coughing, she walked closer and looked through a gap in the wall. There were indeed a lot of herbs and plants, but also a lot of pots and bottles.  
"Are you ill, young lass?" a sudden voice sounded from the other side of the wall.  
"Eep!" Medid shrieked, jumping away from it. She turned around, running away from the building in total panic. After a short while she stopped running and realised what just happened.  
"OH my God!" she shouted, facepalming her forehead as hard as she could. The person who lived there was probably a doctor, saw her peeking inside, and wanted to know if she needed his help.  
"Great! He asked a totally normal question! And what do I do? I panic and flee! Way to go," she told herself, rolling her eyes. Even though she knew she should apologize, she didn't even think about going back there: it'd be way too embarrassing. Instead, she kept on walking.  
To her left were… trees. To her right was the path to the training field. She kept on walking, until she saw a gap between the endless mass of trees to her left. She narrowed her eyes and saw something blue in the distance. _Probably a lake of some sort_, the thought to herself, and continued walking. At some point she thought she heard the trees talk, but she thought of that as either her imagination, or a hallucination caused by the freaky drink Femke gave her. So once again, she kept on walking.  
Finally, she saw another big building again. She ran towards it, past the table in the front yard and looked inside. She almost made a little victory dance when she saw the bookcases. She hopped towards the door, wondering if she ever had been that happy about books. Probably not, considering the fact she hated reading and studying, but still.

She knocked on the door and waited outside, still feeling relieved.  
"What?" she heard a pretty unfriendly voice coming from the other side.  
"I'm Medid, the mentor sent me here," Medid called back.  
Hearing a deep, annoyed sigh, she saw the door opening. In the doorway was the one she figured they called Hamid. His skin was a little tanned and he surprisingly had his hood down.  
"Well, why in the world are you still standing there?! Get inside! I'm not some sort of servant who will hold the door for you as long as you want!"  
Medid startled and quickly walked inside. She looked around. "So…" she started. "Can I… help you?"  
"You can help me by being quiet!" Hamid sneered back at her, followed by some Arabic words he whispered to himself.  
"Yuck, alright," Medid said, surprised by Hamid's bad attitude. She looked at the bookcases. Femke would've loved this place, she thought. Femke loved reading.  
"Brother, what is all the noise for?" a softer voice sounded. In the doorway to another room stood Adil. "Ah, brother! What's she doing here?" he asked happily.  
"Shut your mouth, Adil!" Hamid shouted. "She's not here because I want her to be! Mentor Giovenzo told me to let her temporary stay here! As soon as one of the buildings is ready, she's gone."  
Adil smiled brightly. "So you'll stay here with us? That's great! I've always wanted a sister!"  
Medid wondered why he wasn't affected by his brother's harsh words. Maybe he was used to it? That would be a rather… piteous. She smiled at him. "Glad that you're happy about it."  
Adil quickly stepped towards Medid. "I'm Adil! I'm Hamid and Ali's brother!"  
"Ali?" Medid asked. No one ever mentioned an Ali to her.  
"Ali is my older brother! He's also Hamid's older brother!"  
Hamid took a book and smacked it against Adil's head. "Shut up!" he yelled. "Ali never has been a brother to us! Don't talk as if he was!"  
Medid winced at the sudden mild violence.  
Adil just shook his head quickly and smiled at Medid again. "Do you want to see the rest of the house?" he asked brightly.  
Medid quickly nodded, not wanting to be in the same room as Hamid any longer.  
"Let's go then!" Adil chirped, taking Medid's hand. He quickly ran through the doorway and stepped into another room. It was rather cosy, seeing how there were a bunch of pillows with warm colours on the floor in the corners. At one pile there were lying a lot of books and papers, and at the other was nothing more than some smaller blankets.  
"Do you sleep here?" Medid asked, remembering some things from the game.  
"Yes, we do," Adil said, quickly stepping towards the small desk on the other side of the room.  
Medid followed him. She actually wanted to ask him if Hamid did that more often, but that was a quite dangerous and personal question. Maybe it'd make him angry, or maybe he'd dislike her for it. She decided to just ask him anyway.  
"Does your brother do that more often?" she asked, surprised by the fact she didn't stutter.  
Adil looked at her. "What does he do more often?" he asked her.  
"That thing with the book," she answered him, baffled by the fact he already forgot about it.  
"Oh – _that_!" Adil said, laughing. "Don't worry! It looks a lot more painful than it is! It doesn't really hurt. Everyone here knows that, but newcomers like you usually startle when it happens!" He grinned and looked at Medid as if he was about to tell her a secret. "He does that to _everyone_. Except for the mentor, everyone gets a facebooked by Hamid."  
Medid's seriousness and concerns immediately vanished in thin air after hearing the word 'facebooked'.  
"Wh-what did I say?" Adil asked, starting to giggle as well because of Medid's contagious laugh.  
"Nothing," Medid said, still laughing. "Nothing; it's an inside joke."

Adil and Medid spent the rest of the day chatting about all sort of things. After Medid told Adil she was from the future, Adil wanted her to tell him everything about it. She had a hard time explaining everything to him, but she found a way to create an image for him. With big eyes he listened to her when she described computers as some sort of paintings that interact with their users, how planes were giant steel birds that carried people from place to place, and how the television was a box that showed you real-life images of places and people. Electricity was easier to explain than she thought it would be, since she told him it worked like trapped thunderbolts giving away their energy, but the Internet was impossible for her to explain. Adil had many questions, but at the same time he was so overthrown with it all he had nothing to ask, and just stared at her with open mouth and disbelief in his eyes. Well, eye. Adil told her he lost his eye a long time ago, when his hometown was attacked by Templars. He fled with his brother, Hamid, and both his parents died, but Ali was nowhere to be found. It turned out Ali had known about it and ran away before it happened, but didn't warn anyone, leaving them for dead. That was probably the reason Hamid held so much pent-up anger towards him. But that story was quickly overshadowed when he asked Medid to explain the way telephones worked.

"So you'll shoot iron things above the earth that make you able to hear someone from the other side of the world?!" he called out. "Wow! That's-! What? How? But, doesn't it smash against heaven, then? And why won't it fall down?"  
Medid chuckled and knew she had to explain to him that the earth was round, what gravity was, and that heaven wasn't in space, but before she could tell him anything, they were interrupted by the sound of arguing.  
Medid stood up to see what was going on, but Adil grabbed her sleeve.  
"Don't interfere, please," he asked with a kind of scared look in his eye. "They're Hamid and Ali. They always argue."  
"Does Ali live here too?" Medid asked.  
Adil shook his head. "No. He lives in the village, but he probably needs Hamid for something." He stayed silent for a while. "Please stay here and talk with me until they're done."  
Medid looked at Adil's scared eye. The bondage over his other eye only made him look more pathetic.  
"Fine," she answered, sighing. "Then you explain to me how these mail pigeons work!"  
Adil smiled. "I don't know how they do it," he said. "They're wonderful little animals. I like birds."  
"I do, too," Medid said, thinking back of the bird that bothered her in the beginning of the story.  
Where would it be now?

Some time later, after a dinner that was so silent it was uncomfortable, Medid looked at Hamid. "What was the fight about?" she asked him, ignoring Adil's gestures.  
Hamid looked at her and scoffed. "Mind your own business," he said, focussing his dark brown, almost mysterious eyes on hers. The locked eye contact made a shiver go down Medid's back. Femke always kept locked eye contact with other people, but that didn't scare Medid. Hamid doing it felt dangerous.  
"Well, I'm sorry to have asked," she muttered, still feeling that Hamid was looking at her.  
Hamid let his eyes off her as a sign he was done talking with her.  
"But I still wonder," Medid said again, causing Hamid to growl. "What can I help you with? You never answered."  
"I did tell you. You had to keep quiet. But it seems like even _that_ is too difficult for you to do, novice."  
Medid shrugged. "I want to help. Keeping quiet is not exactly what you call helping you."  
"You know what?" Hamid said with a dark tone in his voice. "Tomorrow I'll have work for you. For today I only want you to stay out of my sight and do whatever it is you do."  
Adil looked relieved. "Brother," he started. "Can I leave the room?" he asked, leaving Medid to wonder why he had to ask permission for that.  
"Yes."  
Adil stood up and left the room.  
"Is that a habit here? To ask permission before leaving a room?" Medid asked Hamid curiously.  
"After eating together it is indeed polite to ask for permission."  
"…I can see the logic in that," Medid said, thinking about it. "I never thought about it that way."  
Hamid sighed, standing up and taking the bowls. "You should."  
"Hey, aren't you going to ask to leave?" Medid said, knowing it would be a rather cheeky question.  
"This is my house, novice. I don't have to ask anything. Now shoo."

After Adil begged her for more than a half hour, Medid finally agreed.  
"Fine, I'll sleep next to you," she said, groaning a bit. She didn't feel like sleeping next to a stranger, but Adil was obviously in need of affection since he was a sensitive person and he couldn't get it from his brothers.  
"Huzzah!" he chirped. Medid couldn't help but notice he said 'huzzah' instead of her 'hurray'.She dragged some of her pillows to Adil's place and lied down. She couldn't decide if this was more or less comfortable than a mattress. It was much softer, it felt really different from the pillows in the 21st century, but its surface was not as equal as a mattress, so it was a little difficult to find a nice position.  
"It feels nice to have someone next to you," Adil said. "Even if it's when you're sleeping…" He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

At first Medid thought it would be difficult to sleep because of everything that happened, but because it was all so tiring, she fell asleep way sooner than she expected, her body resting, but her mind still 100% active.

* * *

_Medid woke up with a numb feeling in her wrists. Feeling that her nose was itchy, she tried to scratch it. Tried, but with no success. She frowned, trying to do it again, but by now she noticed she was walking.  
_"_Keep quiet," a deep, harsh voice said to her from behind. "And keep walking."  
__His voice sounded sharp, loud and made Medid's heart beat faster. She tried to speak, but she had no voice. She looked around her, and realised what was going on. She was being pushed by a Knight Templar, who was bringing her somewhere._

'Where are you taking me? The gallows? No! Don't! I don't want to die, I just want to go home!' she tried to yell, but she was not even able to open up her mouth.  
  
"_Alright. Announce we've got her. She must know," the voice sounded again, causing Medid to wince.  
_"_I shall," another voice sounded, and she saw a very short Knight Templar walk towards a large door standing before there. His jet-black hair covered his eyes. He knocked on the door, and spoke again._

"_Milady, she is here."_

_Medid heard no voice, but apparently there had been an answer, since the black-haired Templar nodded and opened the door. "It's okay. Milady is informed. You can let her in," he said.  
__Medid felt that the Templar behind her pushed her again, making her walk through the door._

_'I don't want this! Let me go!' she tried to yell, with no sound._

"_Speak no more, Assassin," the voice of a young woman sounded._

'_What is- Can you hear me? How is this-!'_

"_I SAID; SPEAK NO MORE!"_

_Medid felt like her eardrums were being cut apart by knives. She gave a soundless shriek and wavered a bit._

"_Now don't be like that," the voice said. "I don't like to see you in pain."_

'_Where are- ah!' Medid tried to speak again, but with every word she said she felt like something was squeezing her neck tighter. She closed her eyes, trying to catch her breath again, but the tight grasp didn't disappear. When she opened her eyes, she saw a tall Templar standing before her. Her tunic was long and gracious, and her mail looked more like silver than steel. Her long gloves and long boots seemed to be made out of silver as well, letting the blood red crosses be more striking than usual. She appeared to be unarmed, but she wore her entire armour, inclusive her helmet, which covered her entire face and appeared to be made by Romans. Medid tried to see her face, but all she saw was her long, blonde, braided hair_

"_That's impolite," she said, and even though Medid didn't see it – she knew she smiled. "Do you really want to know who I am?"_

_Medid looked up._

'_I- arg!' The grasp became tighter and tighter, causing her eyes to tear up._

"_That's is one bad trait," the Templar spoke. "A fatal flaw, to say the least."_

_She let her hands slide to her helmet. "You see…" she started._

_Medid looked up at her, and felt her entire body shock._

_"Curiosity killed the cat."_


	10. Chapter Ten: Lotem is a Templar Town

Medid stepped through the forest. With heavy eyes and sore feet she looked at an Assassin from the village, walking in front of her. He seemed not to be tired at all.  
"Could we, you know, take a break?" Medid asked, feeling that her throath was dry. "I'm tired."  
The Assassin looked over his shoulder. "What? Already? We're only halfway!" he called out.  
Medid almost thought he was joking. She didn't know how long they already had been walking through the long, long grass and the dirt of the ground, but it was most-certainly way longer than she was used to. "I couldn't sleep last night," she used as an excuse. It was partly true since she couldn't sleep after her nightmare, so she didn't feel bad about it.  
"That's unfortunate, but we can't just stop walking. You'll only feel more exhausted if we have to move on again."  
"But I'm thirsty," Medid pleaded, causing the Assassin to let out an annoyed sigh. "Even the children of our village have more stamina than you!" he hissed. "When we cross a lake you can get something to drink, but we will move on directly after that!"  
Medid nodded and continued walking, trying to get her thoughts of her sore feet. She already disliked exercise itself, but since the ground of the forest was very uneven it was even more tiring, not to mention the fact it was not unusual to accidentally step on animals.  
That, and she didn't really like the thought of drinking water from a lake. Who knew what was in there? Maybe there were people drowned there, and their bodies were rotting on the bottom? Maybe animals with diseases drank from it, too? The thought of that was sickening, so she tried to keep her mind on focussing on the road. She didn't feel the need to trip again.  
When they finally heard streaming water, Medid softly tugged the Assassin's sleeve. "I hear water," she said. "...Can I?"  
The Assassin looked at her and nodded. "But you'll take a few sips and then you're immediately coming back. If it takes too long I'll leave without you."  
"Yes, yes," Medid said, getting used to the threaths she more than once received. She stepped towards the sound of the stream.  
After pushing aside a few of the bushes and tripping twice, she saw a greenish, but clear water flow in a small creek. It didn't look too healthy, but she hadn't much of a choise. She crouched and put her hand into the water. The clear water cooled her heated skin. She looked at it again, took a deep breath and brought her hands to her mouth. She took a sip, and had to stop herself from not spitting it out again. It quenched her thrist, but it most-certainly was not healthy. "Yuck..." she muttured, taking another sip. Knowing she would not be able to stand much more of the water, she used her cold, wet hands to cool down her cheeks and neck. "This is a much better use of that filth," she told herself. She grew used to talking to herself. She already did that when she still was in the 21st century, but then she always had Femke to talk to. Now she wasn't there, she usually was alone, and for some reason hearing her own voice made her feel less lonely.  
"I should head back... Ali told me he'd leave, and I can actually imagine him leaving me for dead," she said, going back to the point where he had waited for her.  
"Done?" he asked.  
"Yeah," Medid said, not exactly feeling better.  
Ali nodded. "Good. Let's move on."

So they kept walking. And walking. And walking. And walking. Medid made a mental note to herself that she'd hug her bicycle as soon as she got back home.  
Ali stopped walking. "Straight on ahead," he told Medid.  
"What?" Medid asked, confused. "What do you mean?"  
"Go on. Just keep walking straight on ahead," Ali replied. "Lotem's gates will be visible in no time."  
Medid shook her head. "You're not coming with me?" she asked slowly, not feeling comfortable by the thought of being all alone again.  
"Sort of. I will not go through the main entrance. I'll find another way in. You're not skilled enough to accompany me and you don't behave like an Assassin at all, so they won't suspect a thing from you. You will be able to walk right past the guards. That's why you are wearing peasant clothing instead of an attire."  
Feeling slightly offended, Medid gave him a short "hm" as a reply and walked straight on ahead. "Jerk..." she whispered to herself. "Ditching me like that. Just who does he think he is?" After three more steps she sighed. She should've known. "So that's why they only equipped me with a dagger when they said I needed to go see town," she said. As she finally left the trees behind her, she saw something that would look like a path. There were some people walking in the distance, probably travellers.  
She followed them, and before she knew it she saw the edges of an enourmous and ridiculously high wall. As she came closer, she saw that the entrance to the village was a gate, guarded by Knight Templars. Her stomach ached. Her first encounter with Templars did not go well. Sighing, she put aside her fears and walked straight to them.  
The travellers before her were at the gate. Medid was close enough to hear their conversation with the knights. "Name?" the harsh voice of one of the Templars sounded.  
"Magnus Skövstal," one of the travellers said. "And these are my brothers, Warren and Knut."  
The Templar wrote it down. "Purpose?" he asked, not even looking at them.  
"We are here to visit our grandmother, Sir Knight," Knut answered.  
"Her name?"  
"Katrina," Knut replied.  
The Templar wrote it down and looked at the three men. He scanned them carefully and murmered "appear no threath" as he wrote something down again.  
"Clear!" he yelled, and two other Templars who were standing before the gate stepped aside, letting the three men go through.  
On the wall surrounding the city two Templars were spinning a big wheel. Medid felt tired by even looking at the strength they had to use to spin it, but before she could even wonder what it did, she reached the entrance to the city herself.  
The same Knight Templar looked at her. "Name?" he asked, letting his midnight blue eyes scan her.  
Medid winced. What was she supposed to say? Should she give her real name? There wouldn't be a reason why she would not give it to them, but something told her not to tell them anything even close to the truth. "Medy... Fedelt ," she said.  
The Templar scribbled it down. "Purpose?" he asked.  
Nervously Medid looked at her feet. What was she supposed to say? What was her purpose?  
"Purpose?" the Templar asked again, louder.  
Medid winced. "Just passing by!" she chirped.  
The Templar gave her a skeptical look. Medid almost thought he was about to say 'I don't believe you' and arrest her, but instead of that he bit his lip and wrote it down.  
Medid sighed in relief. She waited for the Templar to shout 'clear' and for the guards to step aside, but it took him awkwardly long to do it.  
"Guards!" he yelled instead. "Search his woman."  
"Wh-what?" Medid asked, her heart pounding in her chest. One of the guards walked towards her and started searching her. Now she felt even more uncomfortable, but that was mainly because it was a man. It didn't take long for the guard to nab her dagger. He showed it to the other Templar and he softly grinned.  
"Purpose?" he asked again, pointing at the dagger.  
"I-I am a traveller," Medid quickly answered. "You see, I- I must travel through woods and such, and I always have this on me! Y-you know, robbers are quite a problem nowadays..."  
"A traveller without a bag of equipment?" he asked, still grinning.  
"Stolen," Medid made of it. "Th-that's why I carry a knife."  
The Templar looked at Medid and obviously didn't believe her. To her surprise, he called out "Clear!" anyway, and the guards stepped aside.  
Medid took a deep breath and just before she walked through the gates, she heard the Templar hiss "Don't try anything funny, missy," right before pushing the dagger back into her hand.

With trembling hands Medid walked through Lotem. The Templar had scared her, and she still couldn't believe he let her through. Especially since he obviously didn't believe her.  
Trying to get her mind off what had happened, she looked around. Very near the entrance was a large well, but no one seemed to approach it. Wondering if she could get some better water than the filth she had to drink in the forest, she walked through it, but before she reached the edge of it, a Templar stood before it and showed her a sign to stop.

"Halt, citizen! No one may come near the well," he said. He looked friendly, but Medid felt that he was trying to sound stern.  
"Why not?" Medy asked, surprised she had the guts. "Did someone fall down?"  
The Templar shook his head. "Nobody fell down the well."  
"...Then why aren't I allowed to go near it?" she asked, feeling calm.  
He blinked twice with his deep blue eyes and held his head a little askew. "...I don't know," the Templar answered. He looked down at his shoes, and was obviously not used to being spoken to like that. "I follow the orders of the Grandmaster without questioning. He told me to let no one come near the well."  
"That's a bit strange, isn't it?" Medid asked, feeling braver every second. "I mean, where do the people get their water now?"  
"There's a lake nearby. There are fellow Templars standing nearby the Salibath Woods. For a small fee we get them a certain amount of water."  
"That's unfair!" Medid called out. "So you're charging people for water now?"  
The Templar shrugged. "Well, it's a dangerous forest. Citizens who try to get to the lake themselves often get robbed or murdered. And the thing about the well is only temporary, I think," he said playing with his brown ponytail. "I don't know."  
Medid sighed. She didn't agree with him, but she was glad that he was sort of nice. "Okay. Well... Goodbye?" she asked, insecure.  
"Good day, citizen," the Templar replied before he ran off to other people coming too close to the well in his opinion.

After that short encounter, she felt a little better. She spoke to a Templar without any problems: it was quite an achievement in her eyes.  
"What did he want from you?" a familiar voice asked. "Did he bother you?"  
Medid turned around. It was Ali, wearing a brown cloak.  
"No, he didn't," she answered, still feeling a little offended. "I just asked him why he didn't allow me to go to the well."  
Ali raised his eyebrows. "You were not allowed to get water?"  
"No. Apparantly some sort of Master-person told the Templars to make sure no one gets close to the well. He said he didn't know why."  
"We'll have to see about that," Ali growled. "When you punch someone hard enough they sometimes magically know the answers you seek."  
"D-don't hit him," Medid muttured. "Maybe he's just doing his job..?"  
"And maybe not. We'll see. He's only a Templar, you know."  
Medid glanced angrily at Ali. "He's a human!"  
Ali winced. "Don't draw attention, you fool," he hissed at her. "Not all of us want to be the main topic of the day!"  
Medid bit her lip. She knew Templars were the enemy now, but she didn't want Ali to hit that Templar. The Templar at the entrance deserved to be beaten, but the one at the well seemed friendly. She'd feel sorry for him. "I just..." she started. "He told me that his Master told him and such... I don't think a person who has things to hide tells you things like that. I'm sure he has nothing to hide."  
"Well, what did he tell you?" Ali asked, giving her an impatient look. "And don't just stand there. Follow me."  
Medid walked along with Ali. "He said there were Templars giving the people water from some sort of wood. If the people pay them a little, they'll get water."  
"Sounds like a cheap excuse to make more money to me," Ali said, scoffing. "I think I want to know what's wrong with the well. If there's anything wrong with, that is."  
"But he won't let you go near it," Medid said, referring to the Templar.  
Ali shrugged. "He didn't seem like such a big deal to me. Not the kind of person I would fear. He should easily be exposed of."  
"Don't hurt him!" Medid sneered.  
Ali looked at Medid. "It is a Templar," he said roughly.  
"So? We can lure him away, too! He doesn't need to die just because you can do that and get away with it."  
"You obviously know nothing of what his kind does," Ali said. He looked angry, but not at Medid. She expected him to say more, but he stayed quiet.

It'd be a terrible silence if it weren't for all the people in the city. Everyone was busy. Unlike in the 21st century, there were a lot of children doing hard work. Women and little girls were stitching clothes and making bread from grain, and a lot of young boys were helping their father by carrying heavy boxes, delivering packages or finding arrows. It almost made Medid feel a little weak and unworthy. And even though she hated doing chores at home, she almost felt like joining the children in their tasks here. They seemed much more fun, fresh: new. But keeping the little bit of dignity she had close to herself, she acted like it was completely normal to her.  
"Are the people here always this busy?" she asked Ali after some time.  
"I don't think the people look any busier than usual. There s just a lot of things to do as a peasant, and usually they need help of their children," he explained. To Medid's relief, she saw he had cooled down a bit. "But that's normal. I assume you've helped your parents, too." Medid nodded. She knew the chores she did were nothing like what Ali meant, but she sometimes did the dishes and sometimes cleaned her room, so technically she did not lie.

"And your brothers and sisters, too?" Ali asked.  
Medid shook her head. "I'm an only child," she said.  
Ali looked at her with a surprised look in his eyes. "An only child?" he asked as if he misunderstood her. "Really? But then who is going to take care of your parents when they grow old?"  
"I have nephews and nieces," Medid quickly said, feeling it probably was really strange to have one child in the Middle Ages or something like that. She didn't feel the need to be the odd one out once again.

"So, what are we going to do here?" Medid asked Ali to change the subject.  
Ali rolled his eyes. "You must see the town. If you're going to stay with us you might have to go here sometimes to get all sort of stuff. Information, supplies, such things. It's important to not just study the maps of places like this, but to also see it with your own eyes."  
"I get it. But there's nothing much going on here, I mean, there are a lot of regular people doing everyday things and there are a lot of Templars running around, but I don t see what should catch my eye,"she answered, studying the environment around her carefully.  
"Are you really that foolish?" Ali asked, looking at Medid. "That is information too! That matters. Count up all you've got. You could make a summary about the town already. It's a very protected town, the well is not to be approached, the people seem regular people doing nothing striking, there are a lot of Knight Templars," he pointed at the roofs, "The roofs of the buildings are rather stable," he pointed at a large sign with a lot of papers strapped to it, "The authorities inform the people about news, - need I go on?"  
Medid blinked twice and shook her head. "No, not really, I think I get the point. Details are important."  
"Indeed. Always remember that. Sometimes it's of life importance," he said, giving her a warning glare.

Medid nodded and was about to answer him, but felt someone tugging her bag. She looked beside her, to see a cheeky boy nab it and run off.  
"H-hey! What- Oh, you! Come back!" Medid yelled. She looked at Ali. "What now?!"  
"Perfect," he muttered.  
Medid looked at him with an angry look. "Was that sarcasm!?"  
"No, it was not," Ali said, looking dead serious. "Quickly. Get it back: it s a good training."  
"What?" Medid's jaw dropped. "You're unbelievable!" she yelped as she ran after the boy before she lost sight of him.

The boy obviously knew the way around Lotem since he jumped over and under everything without tripping while Medid just tried not to push people aside while running. "Thief!" she squirmed. "Come back!"  
The boy's provoking chuckles only made her angrier. At the boy, at Ali, and at the Templars, who were suddenly nowhere to be found.  
_Typical_, Medid thought. _Everywhere when you want them to be gone and at the time someone commits a crime nowhere to be found.  
_The boy looked over his shoulder and squeaked when he saw Medid was closer. With a very quick turn of 90 degrees he dashed to the left. Medid tried to follow, but in her hurry she immediately bumped into two Templars. With a groan she fell down and looked at the boy, who was hiding behind the knights. With a cheeky grin he stared at her.  
"Excuse me?" one of the Templars said, obviously offended by Medid bumping into him.  
"Wh-what? Oh, err, I m sorry," Medid said, getting up. She tried to walk past the two knights, but one of them grabbed her shoulders.  
"No, no. May I ask where you are going in such a hurry?"  
"That demon spawn took my bag! I want it back!" she said, pointing at the boy who gave the Templars his most innocent look.  
"Is that true, boy?" the other knight asked him.  
"No, good Sir Knight," he said, scraping his feet in the dirt. "She tried to steal my bag. I yelled and ran away, but she followed me."  
"What?!" Medid called out. "I swear, I'll twist your little neck!"  
"Ho there, citizen," one of the Templars said. "Do not threaten him. He's just a little boy."  
"We could find out whose bag it is," the other Templar said to his comrade. "Just a moment, lad," he said as he took the bag from the boy. He looked at Medid. "What's in the bag?"  
Medid looked up in surprise. She opened her mouth to say something, but realized she didn't even know it herself. It was Mentor Giovenzo who gave it to her and she only knew about a dagger, but that wouldn t be a very clever thing to say.  
"Well?" the Templar asked.  
"I... I forgot?" she said stuttering.  
The other Templar chuckled. "Now that was a good way of finding out whose property it was! Here you go, lad. Next time someone tries to steal, you know where to find us."  
The boy nodded and was obviously enjoying the scene.  
"But it really is mine!" Medid tried. "Believe me!"  
The Knight Templars shook their head.  
"It's no use, ma'am," one said.  
"Now leave before we charge you with attempt of theft."  
Medid let out a yelp of frustration and was about to grab the boy to give him a nice punch in the face, but before she could even reach him one of the Templars tripped her and held her to the ground.  
"How dare you?" he called out. "What was that? Violence against children?"  
"Unforgivable!" the other one said, giving Medid a disgusted look. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"  
Medid struggled and tried to smash the Templar away from her so she could get up, but it was in vain. She looked at his hand and bit it, causing him to yelp. The other Templar now grabbed her collar and held her up.  
"What was that?!" he sneered. "Do you want me to shatter your teeth?!"  
"Let go!" Medid squirmed. "Let me go!"  
From a distance, she saw that Ali was watching. With the strong urge to facepalm he walked towards the scene.  
"What appears to be the problem, Sir Knight?" he asked underneath his breath.  
"What business is this of yours, citizen?" the bitten Templar said.  
Ali nodded at Medid. "That there is my cousin. She's always been foolish, but I lost sight of her. I apologize if she caused any trouble."  
The Templars both scoffed.  
"She tried to steal from a little boy!" one said.  
"And then punch him!" the other one added.  
"And then she BIT me for Christ's sake!" the first Templar called out.  
Ali looked at Medid. She couldn't help but notice he coughed away a chuckle.  
"I see," Ali said. "Well, my most sincere apologies. I shall take her to her father, he will deal with it."  
The knights seemed to doubt if they should let get go, but eventually they pushed her towards Ali.  
"There. Take her and leave!" the Templar hissed.  
The other one nodded. "Out of our sight, before we change our mind!"


End file.
